Liberty Fall Festival returns to square, and there’s an app for that

The parade on Saturday is always among the highlights during the Liberty Fall Festival, which returns to the renovated town square Sept. 22-24 in downtown Liberty. Photo provided

The parade on Saturday is always among the highlights during the Liberty Fall Festival, which returns to the renovated town square Sept. 22-24 in downtown Liberty. Photo provided

The planters are in, the wider sidewalks are complete, and Liberty Fall Festival is ready to showcase the best the city has to offer, including its historic town square, in a thoroughly modern way Sept. 22-24 in downtown Liberty.

While enjoying the first major renovation of the square in 30 years and wandering among the 1880s buildings, festival goers won’t have to worry about how to find that yummy barbecue vendor or jewelry maker they enjoyed so much in the past.

Now, there’s an app for that.

The Liberty Area Chamber of Commerce has hosted the Fall Festival for 41 years, but the event has been around in one form or another since 1934.

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Gayle Potter, President of the Liberty Area Chamber of Commerce, said there will be more than 270 vendors at this year’s free event, which starts at 11 a.m. on Sept. 22 and continues through mid-afternoon on Sept. 24.

Vendors fill every parking space around the Historic Downtown Liberty Square and fan out down side streets in several directions, including some of the areas which were not used until the square renovation project caused a temporary alteration of the event.

The Clay County Courthouse’s courtyard will the hub for live entertainment, including live bands Friday and Saturday evening with assorted local talent during the day.

“We’re in our first year back on the square, so we are just going to get settled in again,” Potter said.

Saturday’s parade, which starts at 11 a.m. on Sept. 23, will revert to its traditional route, which begins at at Heritage Middle School then travels east on Kansas St. The parade turns north on Leonard St. and west onto Franklin St. before finishing back at Heritage Middle School.

The last two years, the parade has been cut short due to construction.

With construction complete and Historic Downtown Liberty entering a new era, organizers chose “Building Our Future” as this year’s theme with an understanding of what the event does for Liberty.

“It showcases local businesses and crafters, local organizations, boy scouts, girl scouts, whatever kids are doing, in karate or dance,” Potter said. “It really brings everyone together in one place.”

For the second year, the Chamber of Commerce is using the Palaroo app, which can be downloaded through the App Store or Google Play, to make the festival easier to navigate.

The app allows attendees to see a full schedule of events and features an interactive map, which shows the location of every vendor with a phone number and a link to the vendor’s web site (if available).

Liberty Fall Festival, which anticipates between 40,000 and 45,000 visitors for the three-day event, also features a carnival which is scheduled from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., on Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

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